


Naked Tax Credit

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode: s04e03 College Kids, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-09-24
Updated: 2008-09-24
Packaged: 2019-05-15 04:25:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14783556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: "I am serious. I'm very serious. And I'm seriously about to kiss if you stop talking and let me."





	Naked Tax Credit

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

  
Author's notes: This is a ficlet that is part of a series of challenges that Josh and Donna could have had their "moment" after any given conversation. The begining dialog is the scene from the show the moment was to springboard from.  


* * *

DONNA:Hello.  
JOSH: Hey.  
DONNA: Did you sleep all right?  
JOSH: I did, but then I--I read this thing and ... (he looks down as he's speaking, but then looks up at her and suddenly stops mid-sentence) ... how are you doing?  
DONNA: Good.  
JOSH: What's on for tonight?  
DONNA: You have a meeting with the State Party Chair, and you'll say energizing things to the staff--  
JOSH: Are we in any danger at all of losing Massachusetts?  
DONNA: No.  
JOSH: Why am I doing this again?  
DONNA: Because.  
JOSH: I can't just go straight to the event?  
DONNA: No.  
JOSH: Why?  
DONNA: Cause ... everybody's going to the campaign first, and we just spent 20 hours trying to get out of Indiana.  
JOSH: Who's at Rock the Vote?  
DONNA: Aimee Mann, Barenaked Ladies, Chrissie Hynde, Sixpence None the Richer, Aaron Neville, Diamondback Whale, Daisychain, Next Big Thing, the Cruel Shoes and Single Cell Paramecium.  
JOSH: You've just been practicing for when I asked the question, right?  
DONNA: Yes.  
JOSH: And you made up the Cruel Shoes.  
DONNA: No, Single Cell Paramecium.  
JOSH: Okay.  
(in the background, police sirens announce the President returning)  
DONNA: The motorcade ... (she starts waving her arms around) ... We're here!   
JOSH: Would you stop?  
DONNA: We're here!  
JOSH: You know, everybody's really over that now.  
CJ: Admiral Scott! Your expedition's returned! 

 

I give CJ an unamused look. I was really hoping people were over that. Bruno's next with his crappy humor. 

"I need to talk to Toby when he gets in." I say to Donna who's thumbing through a mountain of messages. 

"About your epiphany?" she asks, not looking up.

"Yeah." I say. Wait a minute. "Wait a minute. How do you know I had an epiphany?"

"You had your inspired face on." she shrugs. 

"My what?" 

"You get a certain look in your eye when you get hit by brilliance." 

"I do not."

"Yes, you do."

"Really?"

"Really."

"You want to hear my idea?" I grin like a goon.

"Okay." she smiles. She picks up my schedule and follows me into my office where I push the door shut. "Lay it on me." she says when she stops and turns to face me.

When she said that just now, I had a not at all unpleasant visual of doing dirty things to Donna on my desk. It's not the first time I've had that kind of thought.

"Josh?"

"Huh."

"I don't think you got enough sleep last night." she looks concerned.

"I didn't." I confess. "But that's nothing new." 

"Okay, well, bounce it off me." 

I drop my head and blow out a breath. I really wish she would stop talking like that. It's making it really hard to concentrate. Ever since my breakup with Amy, I've been thinking about Donna romantically more and more. It's getting kinda distracting. When Amy screwed me on the Welfare Bill and then admitted she'd just go ahead and do it again if she had to, then Simon was shot... well, it just made me start thinking that I should stop dancing around this thing with Donna. She feels it, too, I know she does. 

"Donna," I start and look up at her. Looking at her right now, my idea takes on a whole new level. This is something she and I could benefit from. I could actually directly benefit from something we do in office. 

"Josh?" she prompts again. Now she looks a little concerned because I keep losing my focus.

"Don't you think college tuition should be tax deductible?" 

She smiles widely at me. I love when she smiles at me like that. I know I sound...well, like Sam... but it makes me feel warm all over. 

"Yes." she smiles simply. 

"It could be. Toby and I can make it happen."

"That would work out well for us." she says, pushing herself off where she was leaning on the desk.

"Excuse me?" I squeak.

"Josh!" she chuckles. "We're not going to work in the White House forever. One day we're going to get married and have kids."

She's not... nooo.... she's not talking about us, is she? 

"We could really benefit from that." 

She's saying we and us. But she means individually to other people.... right? 

"We?" I ask quietly. She freezes. Yeah, she meant she and I and didn't realize she said it.

"Did I say we?" she asks softly.

"Uh-huh."

"Oh, I'm kinda tired. I didn't realize I said..." 

What you meant, for once?

She blushes a bit and looks down. I take the opening to move a bit a closer to her. 

"Josh..." she's fumbling for an explanation to walk it back. It's the first time one of us has actually out and out acknowledged this current that runs between us. "What I meant was..."

"Hey." I coaxed softly and lift my hand up to her cheek. She looks around the office before her eyes finally settle on mine. 

She looks afraid. 

"You know they're going to Harvard, right?" I smirk. 

The look in her eyes changes to relief and they fill up with tears. I wonder if she would have broke like this if we weren't so damn tired. Our guard is very much down.

She rolls her eyes, but smiles. "Not if it's not tax deductible, they aren't." 

My thumb brushes a tear that escapes as my eyes continue to explore her face. There's no one else I could imagine having kids in college with. There's no one else that ever even compelled me to consider marriage and a family. It's almost like I've been waiting for her all along. 

Her hands slide up my chest, thumbs trailing right up the center. Then she slides her hands under my jacket and pushes it off my shoulders before tossing it over the chair. 

"I wasn't that warm."

"It just seems less..." she trails off and sets her hands back on my chest. 

"Less what?"

"It's just we're in your office and ..."

"And?"

"You can stop this." she says quickly. "I don't want you to get in trouble."

"For what?"

"I work for you." 

"It's a good thing you do, or I never would have found you." 

"Josh, be serious."

"I am serious. I'm very serious. And I'm seriously about to kiss if you stop talking and let me." 

She very wisely says nothing. I know what she's worried about, but I honestly didn't think it bothered her that much. When I look in her eyes now though, I can see the trust there. No one's ever trusted me the way she does. Sure, people have trusted me with specific things, but she trusts me in everything. Do you have any idea what kind of responsibility that is?

When I'm positive she's not going to freak out and pull away, I dip my lips to hers. She's warm and they're trembling slightly which only reinforces for me how much she wants this and it's not just a passing aberration in my office of two people who are completely exhausted. 

My hands slide around her waist and hers slide up into my hair. As the kiss deepens, it gets hungrier. Before I know it, she's backed up against the bookcase and I'm kissing her neck and her leg is hooked around my hip. 

"Donna." I say breaking away. I tip my forehead against hers. I'm trying to get my breathing under control, but looking down didn't help because all I see is her heaving chest. "Stay with me tonight." I plead softly and drop a kiss on her collarbone. 

"We'll in be in Massachusetts tonight."

"Not overnight." I argue. "We'll be coming home tonight. Stay with me." 

She picks up my face and looks me right in the eye. "You're sure."

"Very." 

"Okay." she smiles. 

"I've never heard of half these bands tonight." 

"Not even the Bare Naked Ladies?" she says flirtatiously. 

"I prefer a different kind of bare naked lady." I leer in return.

"Well, play your cards right, buy a girl a nice drink and maybe you'll have one of your very own."

"This is going to be the longest day ever." I whisper before kissing her again. 

"I've already done the endless wait, Josh." she whispers in return. "This is the good kind of waiting." 

How have I not had the guts to do this before? Not only that, but what was it about today that made me think this was going to be it? One minute I want to talk to her about tuition tax credit and the next I've got her pushed up against the bookcase with my tongue down her throat. 

"You'll save me a dance tonight? I still gotta meet with that guy." 

"A real slow one." she promises. 

I reluctantly pull away and she straightens out her shirt and I press a palm to my eye. "I'm going to be thinking about the naked tax credit all day."

"Naked tax credit?" she laughs.

"Tuition. Did I say naked?"

"I think you're going to be too tired for anything else." she's openly laughing at me now. Not the kind of foreplay I had in mind.

"I'll sleep on the plane, both ways, Donna. Plus, I can sleep in the meeting with the guy." 

This time, she pins me up against the bookcase and I reflexively pull her tightly to me as she crushes her lips against mine. "Rest up." she says in a voice that sounds like ... well, let's just say it's a turn on. "You're going to need all your energy." 

"Oh my." 

She kisses me again and makes a quick getaway out of my office. I tip my head back against the books and stare at the empty door lost in thought until Toby suddenly appears in it. 

"Hey," he says. "I've got an idea...."

THE END


End file.
